NI hospital waiting time target missed for 90% of patients

Around 90% of patients have to wait more than the target time of nine weeks for an appointment to see a consultant in Northern Ireland, the latest hospital waiting times show.
By Niall Deeney
Published 27th Aug 2020, 10:27 BST
The number of consultant-led outpatient appointments dropped by more than half during April, May and June this year, new statistics show. Image shows Craigavon area hospital. PACEMAKER BELFAST 25/08/2020The number of consultant-led outpatient appointments dropped by more than half during April, May and June this year, new statistics show. Image shows Craigavon area hospital. PACEMAKER BELFAST 25/08/2020
The number of consultant-led outpatient appointments dropped by more than half during April, May and June this year, new statistics show. Image shows Craigavon area hospital. PACEMAKER BELFAST 25/08/2020

More than 40% of all patients waiting on a first consultant-led outpatient appointment had to wait more than an entire year, with 89.3% waiting more than nine weeks.

The latest waiting time statistics, which were recorded on June 30 and published by the Stormnt health department this morning, show that 311,090 patients are on the waiting list for an outpatient appointment to see a consultant.

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There are two targets for this kind of appointment — no more than half of all patients should wait nine weeks, and no one should wait a year.

At the end of June, following months of lockdown, 277,704 had been on the waiting list for nine weeks and a shocking 136,666 had already waited at least 12 months, with some patients waiting much longer.

During the three months leading up to June 30, the impact of the coronavirus lockdown can be seen clearly in the reduction in the number of appointments that took place.

In the first three months of the year, before lockdown was imposed, 105,292 consultant-led outpatient appointments took place. During April, May and June, that figure was more than halved to 41,500.

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